That Laney Girl
by Asha
Summary: Liz has a cousin?!


**That Laney Girl**

**By Asha Williams**

**This happens about a month after my last fan fic, _New Neighbor (_if you haven't already read_ New Neighbour,_ you may want to read it before you read this)_. _Liz still hangs out with Daria and Jane most of the time and occasionally with her brother Brad.**   


Liz Scott woke up to the sound of her alarm clock and her mother yelling at her. Without getting up, she reached over to her night stand and put on her sunglasses, the ones she wore instead of her glasses (which lay collecting dust on her bureau). Liz looked over at her alarm clock and saw that it was 7:30. 

_Wow, _she thought, _it only took half an hour this time for the alarm clock to wake me up. _Turning off the alarm, Liz got out of bed and walked over to her dresser. As she took out her usual outfit of an oversized black t-shirt and too big khakis, Liz admired her new room. The walls were covered with pictures of aliens, torture weapons and various TV show posters. Liz's favourite poster was a South Park poster, which showed Kenny dying in several ways (oh come on, you _all _must have seen that one before). On her bureau was a ceramic alien, and two aquariums, one containing her pet fish, Ax, and the other containing her pet ball python, Sabrina. The floors were covered with dirty clothes, books and some food. She had decorated well. Liz then got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. 

"Elizabeth Kathleen Scott!" Were the first words Liz heard as she entered the kitchen. She cringed. Liz hated when her mother yelled at her, her voice was loud and her mother stubborn. 

"Careful, mother, don't want to break the windows again," Liz commented calmly as she pulled some cereal and a bowl out of the cupboard. She braced herself against another scolding for talking back. 

"Don't talk to me like that young lady," her mother snapped at her. 

Still as calm as ever, Liz replied, "and what causes you stress this morning, mummy dear?" Liz poured some Mini Wheats into her bowl and went to the fridge in search of milk. 

Mrs. Scott narrowed her eyes," I walked by your room this morning and it is a mess!" 

"Tell me something I don't know," Liz said. She opened the fridge door and peered inside. _Where the hell is that milk?_

"Cut the comebacks, if your going to have someone else living in your room, it has to be clean." 

"Uh huh," Liz replied, only half listening. _Ah, there it is! _She pulled the milk out of the fridge, where it had been hiding behind some left-over sphagetti and a bottle of molasses. Liz closed the fridge door and tried to make her way over to the table, but was blocked by her mother. 

"Are you listening at all?! You do remember your cousin Laney is coming to live with us, right?" 

Liz snapped to attention. "WHAT?!" She exclaimed, dropping the milk carton which sent milk flying everywhere. 

"Elizabeth!" Mrs. Scott scolded, "can't you go five minutes without dropping something?" 

Liz clenched her teeth. Her mother knew she hated when people talked about her clumsiness. Joking was fine, but her mother sure knew how to get her mad. Of course, Liz couldn't let her mother see that she had to power to make her mad. "Obviously not," Liz replied, trying to sound calm but coming off as snotty. 

Mrs. Scott tossed Liz a rag, which meant she had to clean up the mess. As Liz bent down to clean up, her mother continued, "I told you the other day to tidy your room and clear out half of your closet so your cousin Laney would have room to move in." 

Liz finished cleaning up the milk, threw the rag in the sink and put the milk carton, containing what was left of the milk, on the table. "Mom," she said, once again calm, "was I on the computer when you told me that?" 

"Yes." 

"No wonder I didn't hear, you know I never hear what people say when I'm on the computer." Liz was a computer freak, spending more time on it than she did with any one person, including her family. 

Liz's mother threw her hands up in the air. "Why do I even bother?" 

"Beats me." Liz shrugged. She sat down and poured some milk onto herself. while lifting a spoonful of Mini Wheats to her mouth, Liz pondered something. "I didn't even know I had a cousin named Laney." She wondered out loud. 

"She's that little girl you played with at your aunt's, her mother's, wedding, when you were four." Her mother told her. "See, you had your picture taken with her." Mrs. Scott pointed to a picture on a shelf, which showed a young Liz with shoulder length brown hair, purple sunglasses, wearing a dark purple dress. She was sitting beside a girl about the same age, with long blonde hair, big green eyes, wearing a flowered sun dress. The two of them were sitting together under an apple tree and smiling, though Liz's smile looked slightly evil, as it always does. 

"Really?" Liz raised and eyebrow, "I thought she was one of those models that you pay to have your picture taken with." 

"Well she's not," Mrs. Scott continued. "Her parents got divorced and neither want to, I mean, _can_ take her." 

"What loving parents," Liz commented as she finished her cereal and brought the bowl over to the sink. Then she turned around, stared at the kitchen and asked, "where's everyone else?" 

"I was waiting for you to notice," said her mother, "your father is at work, the twin's are at activities and Brad's playing nintendo." 

Liz smirked. None of this surprised her, especially Brad's playing nintendo. That's all her older brother ever did. He was kind of a recluse, never really hanging out with anyone except her, mostly because she was the only one who minded being second to his video games. When they had first moved to Lawndale, he had a few minutes of popularity because the girls found him attractive, but that soon ended. Probably the only reason Liz tolerated his obsession was because he tolerated hers. 

Liz left the kitchen and wandered into the computer room. Glancing at the clock and seeing she had about 20 minutes until she had to head to school, Liz decided to check on her web page. Liz sat down at the computer, which was already on, and opened Netscape Communicator. Her father had gotten unlimited internet access because she kept going way over 60 hours, so Liz never had to log on. She typed in her web page URL. 

The page appeared momentarily, so she check the counter. It now read 267 visitors. _Not bad, _she thought, Liz clicked around, admiring her work. On the "My Friends" page, there were only four names. Until a couple weeks ago, there had only been two: Brad and Annie, her best friend from Levonelm, her old town in Canada. Now it had two more, Jane and Daria. She had met them on her first day in Lawnale. Actually, Liz had met Daria first. No, met wasn't the right word. Caught was more like it. She had caught Daria watching her family move in while checking out her room, since Daria's room's window was right across from the window in her room. It had been quite funny, actually, the way Daria reacted when she had caught her. 

Liz was sort of spaced out, so she didn't notice when her brother, Brad, entered the room. He was only a couple inches taller than Liz, which wasn't saying much, and had dirty blonde hair. Brad was wearing his usually outfit of sweat pants and large t-shirt. He chuckled to himself as he saw his sister staring intently out the window. She looked so funny when she was daydreaming. Suddenly, Liz snapped out of it. 

"Oh, hi," she said to Brad. 

"Hey," he replied. "What are you doing?" Brad asked as he sat down in a wooden chair next to Liz's office chair. 

"Just checking out my web site." 

Brad looked at the screen, which was on the "My Friends" page. "Oh, you told a bunch of internet people I'm your friend. I feel so loved!" Brad joked. 

Liz rolled her eyes and smirked. "Don't get used to it." Suddenly, the clock caught her eye. "Oh, hell, I'm late for school." Liz closed Netscape and raced out of the room and up the stairs. 

"Wait, isn't school that way?" Brad yelled after her. Getting no reply, he shrugged and headed off for school.   
  


Liz raced up to her room, grabbed her backpack and ran towards the school. Like everyday, she arrived just as the bell rang. Liz smiled to herself and headed into the school. Racing down the hall, Liz tripped, sending her backpack flying. And, since Liz never closed her backpack, her books went flying as well. Instead of picking everything up, Liz just sighed and rested her head on the floor. _I knew I should have tied my shoes this morning, _she thought. 

"Excuse me, are you Elizabeth Scott?" 

Liz didn't look up to see where the voice came from, she just replied, "who else would be sprawled out in the middle of a corridor?" 

"Your mother told me to find you here." 

_My mother? _Liz finally looked up. Standing above her was a tall girl with _long_, slightly frizzy blonde hair, a deep tan, and the biggest green eyes she had ever seen. The girl was wearing a crimpy-looking long skirt which had more colours on it than one person could name, a baby blue long sleeved belly top with flared sleeves and a band tied around her head. _What decade is she from? _Liz thought to herself. Out loud, she said, "how do you know my mother?" 

The girl smiled. "Oh good, you are Elizabeth! I'm your cousin, Laney Miller." 

Liz was too shocked to correct her for calling her by her real. "_You're_ my cousin?!" Liz exclaimed. 

Laney's smiled faded. "Yes," she replied meekly. 

Suddenly feeling sorry for this girl, Liz slapped on a smile. "Cool, do you want me to show you how to get to your first class?" 

"Thanks, Elizabeth," Laney said, smiling again. 

"Just one more thing," Liz said, cringing at the use of her real name. "Never call me Liz."   
  


In the cafeteria, Liz stood with Daria and Jane in the lunch line. 

"So she's basically looks like a hippy?" Jane concluded after Liz had told them about her cousin. 

"Wonder if she's related to the Yeagers," Daria commented. 

Liz raised an eyebrow, but decided not to ask. "Not only that, but she talks like it. She actually said 'far out`. " 

The three girls paid for their food and sat down at a table. 

"And that's not even the most annoying thing," Liz continued. "All the boys are going totally ga ga over her." 

"Don't tell me you're jealous," Daria said. 

"Don't even kid about a thing like that," Liz laughed. "The only thing is, they keep swarming her and tripping me." 

Jane smirked. "I'd have thought you'd be used to that by now." 

"Oh, ha ha." Liz said as she poked at the brown blob on her plate. _Is it a hamburger or pig brains?_

"Elizabeth!" 

Liz didn't turn around. "I told her not to call me that." Reluctantly, she turned to face the voice. 

Laney, smiling as always, made her way through the cafeteria towards Liz's table, with boys following her the entire way. She sat down at the table, with no tray, only a paper bag. A bunch of boys, including the Three J's, crowded around her. 

"Want me to buy your drink?" Joey asked her. 

"I buy you a new lunch so you don't have to eat that one," Jeffy prodded. 

"I'll get you a new chair, that one is too hard," Jamie said. 

Laney smiled at them. "No that's ok, man. Thanks for asking." 

The three boys began fighting. Shouts of `she thanked me, you idiot!' and 'she was looking at me when she said it!' were heard from them. The whole thing looked rather ridiculous, but the fact that they were so serious about it made it even funnier. 

Laney calmly said to them, "Don't fight guys. Violence won't get you anywhere, man." 

Immediately, the Three J's stopped fighting, and smile sickeningly at Laney, who has now began to open her lunch bag up. Meanwhile, Liz, Daria and Jane were about ready to puke. 

"Remind me never to take her to a wrestling match," Liz commented. 

"Somehow I don't think I'll _have _to remind you," Daria replied. 

Laney turned away from the boys to face Liz. "I saw our room, Elizabeth. It's really far out!" She exclaimed as she opened her lunch. 

_**Our **room? Far out? _Liz just couldn't get Laney, it was like she was a time travelee. "Um, that's nice..I guess." 

"Though you might want to get rid of the one with that little kid dying. It promotes death and violence, man," Laney said as she took out her lunch of salad, sunflower seeds and berry juice. 

"Isn't that the point?" Jane whispered to Liz. 

Liz rolled her eyes and said to Laney, "It's just a cartoon, no one's gonna go peck someone's eyes out just because they saw it on a poster." 

Laney replied calmly, not even looking at the now slightly frustrated Liz, "But it's not going to teach people not to peck people's eyes out, is it?" 

"Who would want to peck some little kid's eyes out anyway?" Liz asked. 

"Some people are such followers, anything will set them off." Laney replied. 

"But why would they be in my room?" Liz said. 

"_They _might not be, but they're spirits can go anywhere," Laney said seriously. 

Liz made a `what the..' kind of face. "What does that have to do with anything?!" 

"What _doesn't_ it have to do with anything?" Laney said. 

Liz began to get mad. "Would you stop contradicting everything I say!" 

Laney munched on some lettuce. "I will when you stop thinking that you're always right." With that, Laney picked up her lunch and calmly let Jeffy, Joey and Jamie escort her to a new table. 

Laney let out a frustrated groan. 

"Somehow I get the idea that you don't like her," Jane commented. 

Instead of replying, Liz let out another groan and slammed her head on the table. 

After a moment, Daria asked, "did that hurt?" 

"Very much," Liz replied, her head still on the table.   


A couple minutes later, in the Nurse's office, Liz was sitting in a chair with a bag of ice on her forehead. Daria and Jane are sitting in two chair beside her. "Who does she think she is, anyway, criticizing my taste in posters," Liz complained. 

"Well, she did kind of have a point." Daria said cautiously. 

"What?!" Liz said angrily. 

"I mean, about you always having to be right," Daria continued. 

"You do tend to think you're right," Jane commented. 

"I don't believe this," Liz exclaimed, "what is wrong with having confidence in my opinions?" Daria opened her mouth, but Liz put her hand up. "And if you say `What's wrong with having confidence in other people's opinions', I swear to God I'll kick you." 

When Liz has slowly taken her hand down, Daria says, "actually, I was going to say that you haven't really given Laney a chance." 

"What?!" Liz exclaimed. "I listened to her babble about peace and junk till I was ready to eat my left arm. And I managed to do that without swearing, too, which is a big step for me." 

"You should give her a little more time though," Jane added, "it took me an entire day to confirm that I dislike Quinn." 

Liz stared at them skeptically (I love that word). "You're not saying that you like her, are you?" 

While Jane just gives a yeah right look to her, Daria replies, "no, I find her annoying. But I'm not her cousin." 

Liz appears to look this over for a minutes, gives them both an aw, hell look and simply says, "Damn."   
  
  


Around 9:00 PM that night, at the Scott residence, Liz painfully watches Laney takes down all the posters on her side of the room. Liz mentally made plans for where the posters would go on her side of the room, but she immediately snapped out of it when Laney began to put up large flowers posters on the walls. 

"Um, what are those," Liz asked, trying not to scream out loud. 

"They're flowers, man," Laney giggled. "Aren't they groovy?" 

"Uh, really far out, dude," Liz says, turning away with an `oookaaay' look on her face. 

Meanwhile, Liz moved her bureau over to her side of the room, which took awhile because of the amount of she had on it. Including her fish and snake, the bureau was considerably heavy. Liz finished moving the bureau and sat on her bed. 

Laney walked over to where Liz was sitting. "Look, I'm sorry about saying that you always have to be right. That was way out of line, man." 

Liz sighed. "Apology accepted." 

Laney finished decorating her side of the room, which was now covered with flowers, peace signs, some save the whales posters and a couple smiley faces. Liz grimaced at the finished product. Laney smiled at her work and sat on her bed, which was covered with a painfully colourful bedspread. She put on some non word, soft music and began to meditate. 

Liz tried in vain to ignore this, but just had to ask. "What are you doing?" She asked critically. 

"Trying to achieve inner peace, man," Laney replied without opening her now closed eyes. 

Liz got up. "Well, I'm trying to get some _peace _and quiet." She turned off Laney's CD player and went over to her own. "And at least if you're going to listen to music, make it good music." Liz placed a CD in her CD player and "The Kid's Aren't Alright", by Offspring began to blast out. Liz smiled and laid back down on her bed. 

Laney, meanwhile, broke out of her trance like state and covered ears. She winced at the loud music as if it were causing her pain. "Make it stop," she cried. "That music is totally evil." Laney marched over to Liz's CD player and turned off the music. 

"Hey!" Liz exclaimed, "I was listening to that!" 

"If you listening to that any longer, you'd go deaf, man!" Laney said. 

"Well, it was better than what you were listening to," said Liz, "sounds like a dolphin getting stepped on! It didn't even have any words to it!" 

"Words ruin the music, man! You have to listen to the feeling," Laney replied. 

Just when Liz was about retort, a Daria words from earlier echoed inside her head. _I find her annoying. But I'm not her cousin.... _Liz sighed and finally said, "Look, I have some headphones. You can listen to your cra, er, I mean music and I'll use the headphone to listen to mine." 

Laney appeared satisfied with this, so Liz stuck her put on her headphones and resumed listening to her music. Since the headphone cord was long, Liz began putting up her posters back up on her side of the room. She was finished in a few minutes, but something wasn't quite right. Something was missing. At first Liz explained it as good vibes coming Laney's room, but that wasn't it. She looked around, at the torture weapon posters, Simpson's pictures, ceramic alien and... 

"Laney, where's my Kenny poster?" 

"Who's Kenny?" 

Liz rolled her eyes at Laney's knowledge, or lack thereof. Luckily, because of Liz's sunglasses, Laney didn't notice. "The one we were fighting about at lunch." 

"Oh, that!," Laney said as she finally placed the description. "I thought that since we were fighting over such a silly thing, the easiest to do would be to throw it out." 

Liz couldn't believe her ears. "You threw _my _poster away? _My_ poster? The one that I couldn't find in a store back in Levonelm so I had to order it for ten bucks over the internet, which got me grounded since I'm not allowed to order things over the internet. You threw out _that _poster!?!?" 

Laney looked slightly guilty, but managed to nod. 

"Why didn't you ask me? Oh, I know. Because you knew I would say no! Can't you just try and see things from my point of view? I've grown up like this, I'm familiar with this, and someone new moves in and tries to change everything!" Liz was screaming now. 

Unfortunately, Laney was able to match her tone and, also unfortunately for the other people in the house, overcame her volume. 

"What about my point of view? I grew up with some lazy beatniks who taught me to love peace and stuff. And I do love it! But then the people who taught you to love what you love didn't want you and sent you to live with people who have absolutely nothing in common with you! How would you like that?" 

Liz was taken aback. She didn't know the girl had it in her to yell so loud, especially with her usually soft, barely heard tone. But what surprised her most is that she was suddenly overcome with pity for Laney. But instead apologizing, which her conscience was begging her to do, she fled the room leaving an extremely angry Laney standing alone in the middle of the room.   
  


"You're going to have to got back sometime." 

"You can't stay in here forever." 

"Just apologize!" 

"At least, go back for your own pajamas." 

After fleeing the room, Liz ended up in her Alexandra's and Ashley's room (they're her 12 year old twin sisters, if you didn't already know that then you know now). Liz had tried going to Brad's room, but the non-stop nintendo noise began to drive her crazy. Each of her sister's are sitting on their beds. Alexandra is ontop of her cow print bedspread wearing a long green tie-dyed t-shirt for pajamas and is looking at her pokemon cards. Ashley is sitting on her own purple and white poke dotted blanket wearing a white and pink nightgown and is painting her toenails. Liz is sitting between their beds on a sleeping bag and wearing blue and white striped pajamas which look considerably too small for her. Of course, she's still wearing her sunglasses. 

"I'm not going back, no way, no how." Liz said. 

"And why not?" Ashley asked. 

"Because she's chicken!" Alexandra laughed. The two of them began to make chicken noises at Liz. 

Liz was annoyed. "Knock it off!" She screamed, leaving Alexandra and Ashley staring at her wide-eyed. 

"Ow." Alexandra finally said. For some reason, Ashley found that funny and soon the two of them were giggling madly. 

"Oh, jeez," Liz said to herself, "I'm trapped in a room with two giggle-guts." 

"You have no reason not to go back," Alexandra said once she calmed down. 

"I have every reason not to go back!" Liz exclaimed. 

"Name three," the twins said at the same time, which caused them to giggle. 

"One, um, I..she, uh...I don't want to go back!!!" Liz stammered. 

"Why not, it's your room," Ashley pointed out. 

Liz looked at her angrily. "My room? _My room?!! _That's no longer my room! It's been taken over by a the spirit of flower power!" With that, Liz stomped out of the room.   


Liz walked by the kitchen and saw her mother was in there reading, so she sighed and walked over to her mom. 

"Mom?" Liz hesitantly. 

"Yes, dear," Mrs. Scott turned to face Liz. 

"Why does Laney have to stay here?! " she blurted out. 

"Liz, you know why. Her parents can't take her. Why are you so worked up about this?" Liz's mother asked. 

"She's annoying! I can't stand her!" Liz was beginning to yell. 

"What's the matter with you? Show a little compassion, she has no where to go. Besides, when you shared a room with the twins you got along fine!" Mrs. Scott said. 

Liz raised an eyebrow. A memory of that time came to mind...   


_Liz was 5 and Ashley and Alexander were 1. They shared a small room together. Liz's small bed was on one side of the room and the twin's crib was on the other side. It was night-time. Liz was trying to go to sleep when one of the twins dropped her bottle out of the crib and began to cry until Liz picked it up. As soon as Liz returns to bed, the other twin drops her bottle and cries until Liz gets it. This continues till Liz covers her head with a pillow._

_Another flashback comes to mind. Liz was 7 and the twins were 3. Liz was reading a book when the twins come up and take off with it. Liz runs after them yelling and screaming._   


Liz shook her head. "Mom, I think you've got the wrong family. Check the Brady Bunch." 

Mrs. Scott sighed. "Just try and get along with her, this must be a lot harder for her than for you." 

Liz thought back to how Laney had yelled at her and the pity she had felt for a moment. She sighed too. "Why do you always have to be right?" Liz sullenly left the room and headed out of the kitchen.   


Liz entered the room she had fled only a little over an hour ago. It was empty. Great. Liz looked around the room, though she wasn't sure what she was looking for. But she found it. 

Liz picked up the note that had been placed on her bed. "Dear Lizzy," she read aloud. _Hmm, closer this time, _Liz thought. "You have made it clear that I'm not welcome here, and I can't say I blame you. If you moved into my previous home, I would have probably done the same thing. So, I packed a few belongings, a bit of food and I left. You'll be better off without me. Peace and Love, your cousin, Laney." 

After reading the letter, Liz did the first thing that came to her mind. She picked up the phone and dialed a very familiar number. 

"Hello?" 

"Hello, Daria?" Liz said into the phone. "Doing anything right now?"   
  
  


Daria and Jane met up in front of Liz's house. They rang the bell, waited about two seconds and was promptly dragged into the house by Liz (who has now changed back to her regular clothes, in case you're wondering.) 

"What's this all about, Liz?" Daria demanded. "It better be a good excuse, because I don't leave my room for just anything." 

"I killed her!" Liz exclaimed. She immediately burst into tears and began to hyperventilate, a la Stacy. 

Daria and Jane looked at her with identical amazed faces. 

"Um, I wasn't expecting that," Jane finally said. 

"I hope we don't have to hide the body," Daria said. 

"Ok, ok, I didn't actually kill her..." Liz said when she calmed down. 

"oh good," Daria sighed with relief. 

"...in a sense..." Liz continued. 

"Oh crap," Jane said. 

"Ok, Liz, what _exactly _did you do to the poor girl?" Daria questioned her. 

"I made her run away from home," Liz replied. 

"And why _exactly _did you scare the hell out of us two seconds ago?" Jane continued. 

"Well, I might as well have killed her! Laney'll never survive in Lawndale!! She's gonna die just because she threw away my Kenny poster." Liz began to bang her head on the wall. 

"She threw away your Kenny poster?" Daria asked. 

"yes," Liz said between bangs. 

"Wow, that changes the perspective," Jane said sarcastically. 

"Ha, ha," Liz said. She stopped banging her head, but had obviously been banging her head to hard and started to stumble. Luckily, Jane and Daria grabbed her by the arms before she hit the floor. 

"Are you okay?" Daria asked sincerely. 

"Do I look ok to you?!" Liz started to yell and shook Daria and Jane off, causing her to fall. Getting up, she said, "my cousin is out there alone and I'm just sitting here, banging my head on the wall." 

"Not the smartest move, I might add," Jane commented. Liz glared at her. 

"Well, if you're so worried about her why don't you look for her?" Daria said. 

Liz seemed to turn the idea over in her mind for a moment, then smiled. "Now why didn't I think of that?" 

"Too busy banging your head on the wall?" Jane offered. 

Liz ignored that, and grabbed her jacket and headed for the door. "I'm going out there and I'm not coming back till I find Laney!" Liz opened the door to reveal pouring rain. 

"Well, we certainly wish you the best of luck," Daria said quickly. 

"I hope you find her before you drown," Jane added. 

Liz turned around and smirked evilly at them. 

"We're gonna pay for that, aren't we?" Jane said. 

Liz nodded and her smirk grew to almost a smile.   
  


Liz, Daria and Jane trudged threw the rainy streets calling Laney's name. When they hit downtown, Liz offered an idea. 

"Why don't we split up and meet back here in an hour?" 

Daria and Jane nodded and headed in different directions. Liz sighs, and heads in another direction.   


An hour later, Daria and Jane met up at the starting point, but there was no sign of Liz or Laney, even after waiting for a few minutes. 

Daria glanced at her her watch. "Hell, I was supposed to be in 10 minutes ago. Mom's gonna have my head for this. Do you think we should keep waiting?" 

"I guess so, I have a feeling that Liz would be just a teensy bit mad if she came back and we're not here," Jane said. 

"Yeah, but she can't ground me," Daria said. 

Daria and Jane waited for as long as they could, but soon they had to leave. As they walked away, they only hoped that Laney was found and that Liz wouldn't kill them.   
  


"Laney!!" 

Liz peered through her fogged up sunglasses along the street. Laney was no where in sight and it was still raining. 

"Laney!!" She called again. No answer, but some weird looks from the people walking down the street. Liz let out a frustrated groan and sat down on a bench. _There's no way I'm gonna find Laney_, she thought, _she's probably half way to New York by now! Or dead!! Or worse! Wait, what could be worse than death? Oh, yeah, the whole pink thing._

Liz sighed again and got up to go home, but something caught her eye. Something with long blonde hair and a long skirt. 

"Laney!" Liz ran down the slippery sidewalk to Laney, who was standing with a somewhat stunned look on her face outside the movie theater. Liz practically mauled Laney with a big hug. 

"Oh my God, Laney, are you okay? I'm so sorry, I never meant to make you run away!" Liz rambled on. She then backed away and saw the freaked out look on Laney's face. 

"Laney! Are you all right?" Liz asked with concern. 

"I j-just s-saw th-the S-south P-park m-m-movie," Laney stuttered. 

"Why?" Liz asked. 

Laney gulped and said," well, I was walking down the street when I started to feel bad about throwing away the poster. So, to find out what you like so much about it, I went to see the movie." She still had the petrified look on her face, a mixture of a deer caught in headlights and a deer that almost got hit by a car. 

Liz looked at Laney for a second and burst out laughing. 

"What? It's not funny, man! That movie's going to corrupt the whole world," Laney exclaimed. 

"I hate to tell you this, but the world can't get much more corrupt than it already is," Liz said between laughs. When she calmed down, Liz lead Laney down the street towards home. "Tell you what. We'll go back home, you can light some candle and do that meditation thing-a-ma-jiggy." 

"Candles are too smoky. Inscence is much better," Laney said. 

Liz smiled. "It's good to have you back, Laney."   
  


"So, you like her now?" 

"Yeah, I've learned not to be so judgmental of different ways of life." 

"Damn, we've lost another one." 

Liz, Daria and Jane sat in the school cafeteria the day after Liz found Laney. Liz munched on what looked like fries and sighed. 

"And I've deprogrammed her from calling me Elizabeth. I got her down to Lizzy," Liz said. 

"Better than Lizard," Jane shrugged. 

Liz rolled her eyes. "She's not really that annoying once you get used to her," she said. 

"Well, it's always a plus not to share a room with someone you find annoying," Daria commented. 

"You think?" Liz said sarcastically. 

"Speak of the devil.." Daria said when she saw Laney approaching. 

"Shhh, you'll make Laney mad if you say stuff like that," Jane replied. 

Liz glared at them and waved Laney over to the table. Laney smiled and headed over. 

"Hi!" She said as she sat down. 

"Hey Laney," Liz said. Daria and Jane both said some form of greeting (ok, so I'm not that creative!). 

Almost immediately, the Three J's appeared beside Laney. 

"Can I get you a soda, Laney?" Joey asked. 

"I'll get you a diet soda," Jeffy offered. 

"I'll buy you a pop machine," Jamie said. 

Laney sighed, put on a smile and said sweetly. "That's ok, guys. You've been really nice to me, but I think someone's missing you." Laney pointed to Quinn, who was staring at Laney from her table with a scowl. 

The Three J's looked panicked for a second, glanced frantically back and forth between laney and Quinn and finally ran over to the latter (I love that word. I love a lot of words.). Laney shrugged and began to unpack her lunch of brussel sprouts, a salad and sunflower seeds. 

"Suckers," she muttered. 

Liz, Daria and Jane exchanged smirks.   


**Epilogue**

Liz went home that day after school and headed immediately for the computer. Above her, Liz heard the soft music coming from her and Laney's room She smiled. Liz sat down at the computer, logged onto the Internet and after checking her e-mail, Liz took a deep breath and started on what she had really come to do. Liz went to edit her home page, opened her "My Friends Page" and at the bottom of the list, she type _Laney._

**The End**

_I just know some people are going to ask me why I brought in another new character (Laney) right after I brought in Liz. Well, I just like creating new characters (what are they called, Mary jane's? Well, I guess you could call me a Mary Janer)._

_I don't know why I made her a hippy type person, I just thought it would be interesting to see how Daria and co. would be able to put up with one for a long period of time._

_Ok, now I'm just taking up space. Hope you enjoyed, any and all comments welcome (except the really bad ones where the commenter ends up telling me to go to Hell. )_

  



End file.
